Trials of Love
by Elararia
Summary: This is the recordings of two young lovers in a world that cannot truly accept their love for one another


Summery: Draco is in love, but can he tell her before it is too late? Disclaimer: It's my first one of this kind. Enjoy!  
  
Draco Malfoy sat at the Slytherin table. He felt more alone than he had ever felt, although the table was filled with his fellow Slytherins.  
  
He just didn't feel like himself anymore, like some piece his missing from his soul.  
  
"Hey, Crabbe, what's today?" Draco asked which by then was a normal thing.  
  
"Um, Thursday, September 15," he said.  
  
"Oh," Draco said. Then he thought, A week from her birthday.  
  
Then Pansey Parkingson came in and ran to Draco. She wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. He noticed that she had a spicy sour smell to her. It nearly made him what to throw up.  
  
"Pansey, get off!" Draco shouted. She looked at him stricken. "I."he said, some Slytherins looking at him. "Have a Quidditch match to prepare for against St. Potter," and he let out a half-hearted evil laugh.  
  
Then he left and as he was walking through the door, he bumped into Hermione.  
  
"Watch it, Mudblood."  
  
"Sorry, Malfoy," she spat the words out like in taking poison.  
  
He regretted saying anything. He liked the way she smelled though, sweet like plumeria, or the ocean, or even sometimes, rarely though, like vanilla. It's a lot better than that spicy sour crap that Pansey always uses, at least, he thought, it doesn't make me want to hurl.  
  
He watched as she walked to Potter and Weasley. Even if he did want to go after her, he knew he couldn't. Every boy knew that Potter had an unspoken claim over her, even if he did chase hopelessly after Cho. Because Draco knew that Cho was Cedric's.  
  
Anyways, he thought, I have Pansey. What more could I want. And he left towards the Slytherin Common Room.  
  
As he followed the long dungeon corridors, he felt the sudden need to turn back and apologize to her. He almost did turn back, but he didn't. He just ignored the feeling and walked on. When he got to the trap door that led to the common room, he gave the password.  
  
He went in feeling tired and dreary, but he had no time for that. He dashed to the Slytherin locker room, and put on his green and silver Quidditch robes.  
  
The match was against Gryffendor, so he knew she'd be there to cheer Potter on.  
  
As he entered the field, the mahogany broomstick handle of his Nimbus 2001 gleamed in the sun. Today felt different, somehow, and he felt more confident than he had in ages.  
  
Draco mounted and kicked off. He flew towards Potter.  
  
"May the best man win, Potter," Draco said.  
  
"Uh.yeah," Potter stammered in surprise. "Let the better one win."  
  
Draco knew who that was going to be. Potter always won against him.  
  
He flew over to Pansey, and said, "This one's for you, babe." Then he flew as close as he could and gently ran his fingers trough her short dark ringlets, which were once long and light.  
  
"Thank you Dracy." She said sweetly.  
  
"I'll see you after the match," and he flew off, because the match had already begun.  
  
Draco saw a glimmer of gold, and zoomed after it. Potter obviously saw it too. He thought potter had already got it, but when he reached forward to catch it, he clasped onto something cold and round that desperately tried to get away.  
  
When he looked, he had the snitch caught in his hand.  
  
"Good match, Potter."  
  
"Yeah, you too," Potter said, almost smiling. "I'll have to look out for you next time."  
  
When Draco landed, Pansey was waiting for him.  
  
"Oh, my God!!" she cried with glee. "You beat Potter."  
  
"And you gave me that luck," Draco replied, "so that I could beat him." And he kissed her; it was hard and rough, like a bomb going off.  
  
"I love you, Draco; see you later," she said as she ran off to Potions class.  
  
He quickly got changed and headed towards class himself.  
  
"Now, class, I will only say this once," Prof. Snape barked at the class. "Today, you are going to learn, without all the interruptions, Mr. Potter and Mr. Weasley, how to make a true feelings potion. Anyone who makes this potion, if asked any questions pertaining to how they feel about something, or someone, the will be forced to tell, otherwise will become that feeling. If you are, say, happy, then your aura will be sown as a bright yellow. Read up on the text; I'll assign partners."  
  
About half an hour later, Prof. Snape said," Alright, Patil and Longbottom, Brown and Finnagan." and it went on like that until ".Granger and .well, why not Mr. Malfoy?"  
  
Draco looked stricken. He wanted to protest, but he knew that it would be futile.  
  
"Alright, Malfoy," Hermione said. "We'll need powdered bicorn horn, shredded petals of a hawthorn rose, several spiders' legs, an about a dozen unicorn hairs. Then put in liquid.truth?" she said inquisitively. "Professor, how do you get liquid truth?"  
  
"Never mind that. When you get done with the rest, tell me and I'll get it for you."  
  
"Okay, let's get started," she said and together they put the ingredients into the cauldron. When they finished, it was a murky brown, like the water that crocodiles hide in to ambush their prey. It looked sick yet slightly scary. Then Prof. Snape gave out the liquid truth.  
  
"You put it in," Draco said.  
  
"All right, then" she replied, as she uncorked the vial and emptied the contents into the cauldron.  
  
There was a small puff of smoke, and the potion now turned clearer than regular water. It almost looked like air.  
  
"Once you're done," Prof. Snape said, "try some."  
  
Draco looked nervous.  
  
"You heard him," Hermione said after serving two cups. "Okay, ready? Bottoms up."  
  
They drank the potion, which had no taste what so ever.  
  
Draco didn't know what to feel. Hermione on the other hand glowed with a sort of violet blue light, the color of tranquility.  
  
"Malfoy?" Hermione said. "Where are you?"  
  
"I'm right here, duh," Draco replied. "Open your eyes."  
  
"They are open, but you're not visible."  
  
"What!?!"  
  
"Hermione, where's Malfoy?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
Draco looked, though no one saw the stricken look upon his face. No one could see him.  
  
I wonder how long this will last, he though.  
  
"Hermione, are you okay?" Potter asked. He had a slightly blue green shimmer around him. Calm, but jealous? , Draco thought, about what?  
  
"I forgot to mention that," Prof. Snape said in a 'silly-me-I-forgot- sarcasm' tone, "The potion will last several hours, depending on how you feel."  
  
I get it now. No feeling, no light. Okay, so how long will this last for me, Draco thought as he flipped through the pages of his potions book.  
  
In the book it had a color chart ranging from red, for 1 hour, to black, about 26 hours.  
  
Ah, no light. Let's see, WHAT!!!! 48 to 62 hours. In other words 2 to 3 days. , Draco thought panicked. Then he thought of all the advantages he would be able to get. No big, he concluded to himself.  
  
Maybe I can see what some girls do in their spare time between classes.  
  
When class was over, Draco silently followed Hermione, Potter and Weasley to their own dorm. He was, of course unnoticed by the trio because he had no color what so ever.  
  
"Password," the portrait said.  
  
"Mackled Maclaw," Potter said.  
  
The portrait swung forward, nearly hitting Draco and the four went into the Gryffendor common room.  
  
"Well, I'll see you two at dinner," Hermione said, and she headed up to the girls' dormitory, with Draco following silently behind.  
  
She was greeted by Lavender Brown and Parvoti Patil. Then she went over to her bed and took out a small scarlet leather bound book and began writing in it.  
  
"Sept. 15 "I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm torn between the two. I don't even know who I should choose. On the one hand my friend knows me better, but also he thinks he knows me completely, but he doesn't. On the other hand, my enemy might be much better than my friend. At least he hasn't 'claimed' me like a piece of land for his fan club." and the rest went on like that until he read a section that went something like ".At least he can't hurt me the way my friend can." Draco was in disbelief. His enemy liked him. But he didn't feel anything towards her.Or do I? , Draco thought on that for a moment, and his head, heart, and stomach all agreed, he liked her too.  
  
Then he noticed a bottle of plumeria lotion on her night stand as well as two other bottles, one called turquoise seas, the other was vanilla. There were several books also.  
  
She sprayed some of the plumeria lotion on her arms and it was like nothing he had ever smelled before, sweet and .just right. He loved it. It just seemed to sweep him away into memory.  
  
Then she and the other girls went to dinner.  
  
Once they were gone, Draco opened the bottle to the turquoise seas and smelled it.  
  
At first he sneezed, but it soon took him back to those summer weeks that he and his mother had at a lagoon, that really had no location that could be placed on a map.  
  
Then the vanilla, it reminded him of those weekends past that he and his father would dress like muggles, before Lucious decided to join the Dark Ass, and get ice cream. After that day, his life turned to hell.  
  
And as he sat, lost in his memories, he lost track of time, until the girls returned.  
  
Shit, Draco thought to himself, and he hid as soon as he could.  
  
"Hey, Hermione," Parvoti said. "What do you think of Harry?"  
  
"I think he's a good friend who could study more than go off on crazy adventures."  
  
"Do you think that it could be more than friendship?" Lavender asked.  
  
"Maybe," Hermione replied, "but I'm not for sure."  
  
"Anyone else?" Parvoti asked, then she giggled. "What about Malfoy?"  
  
"What about him?" Hermione asked, slightly peeved.  
  
"I don't know," she replied, "he got cute I guess, well as cute as Slytherins get."  
  
They laughed, but Draco was not amused.  
  
"Anyways. What about Ron? He got kinda cute," Lavender said.  
  
"I guess," Hermione replied. "But I have no interest in him or any other boy here. Not really anyways."  
  
"'Not really'? Who's not really?" Parvoti asked.  
  
"Harry, I already told you that."  
  
"Oh, I thought you meant someone else. Anyways," Parvoti said, "I'm going to sleep," and she laid down.  
  
As she laid down, Hermione reached over to her night stand and got a pair of earplugs.  
  
Why would she need ear plugs? , Draco thought, though he soon got his answer. There was a sound like a troll's stomach. Then he realized that it was Parvoti and decided to leave.  
  
Hmm, Draco thought, maybe I'll go see what Potter and Weasley are doing.  
  
Just as he was going up the stairs to the boys' dorms, he saw Potter and Weasley coming down, so he flattened against the wall. They were under Potter's invisibility cloak, but Draco could see them, plain as day.  
  
What are they doing? Draco wondered, so he followed them.  
  
"Ready?" Potter whispered to Weasley.  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Then, let's get started," Potter said as they exited out of the portrait hole, Draco following silently behind them.  
  
Get what started? , Draco wondered absently, then he tripped on the portrait hole. "OOFF!!" he said.  
  
"Who's there?" Weasley asked.  
  
Shoot, Draco thought and he ran down the stairs, but he knew that Potter and Weasley were in close pursuit.  
  
Draco went to the Slytherin common room entrance, but so did Potter and Weasley.  
  
What are they doing? Draco wondered.  
  
"Now, let's go get them," Weasley whispered to Potter  
  
Oh no, Draco thought. Then he ran down the hall to the boys dorms.  
  
"Wake up!" Draco shouted at all the sleeping sixth years. "Potter and Weasley are here!! They're planning something."  
  
That got all the Slytherins woke, so they pretended to be sleeping so as to ambush their invaders.  
  
When Potter and Weasley stepped into the room, the lights went on, and they were exposed. All the Slytherin boys went into an all out brawl.  
  
During some points, Draco turned away because some Slytherin would give them a dirty blow that would make them wheeze.  
  
After a while, Potter and Weasley escaped with only minor cuts and bruises, despite their thrashing.  
  
"Harry," Weasley said, "We are NOT going to do that again"  
  
Potter just nodded apparently out of breath.  
  
Neither had any idea that Draco was walking behind them, unseen.  
  
Then a thought hit Draco. Am I really in love with Pansey? Then what is it I feel for Granger? No, I love Pansey, NOT Granger. I'll never love her.  
  
But he couldn't stop thinking about her or Pansey.  
  
Ugh, what is the matter with me? Draco thought to himself as he followed the two Gryffendors to their common room. And why am I following them? Shouldn't I be going to my own dorm? But he kept on going. He felt like he should, like he wanted to, like he needed to. He felt as if he left something of great value there.  
  
Then Potter said their password and the three of them climbed into the Gryffendor common room once more, but instead of following Potter and Weasley, he went up the other set of stairs, to see someone else.  
  
He quietly opened the door and went over to a bed and gently sat on the end, watching her intently, seeing the way she breathed so gently. Absently he sighed deeply, and gently touched her foot.  
  
She stirred but didn't wake. He noticed that she had taken out the earplugs, probably before she went to sleep.  
  
"Good night, sweet," Draco said absently, as if someone or thing else had taken possession of his voice.  
  
Then he realized what he had done, and cursed himself in a loud-quiet voice.  
  
She must have heard too, because she bolted right up and asked, "Who's there?"  
  
Draco didn't know what to say, so he didn't say anything  
  
"I know someone's there," she said reaching for her wand, "Speak now or there'll be trouble."  
  
"Okay," Draco finally said, "It's me."  
  
"Who's 'me'?" she asked.  
  
"Guess."  
  
"Harry?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Ron?"  
  
"Guess again."  
  
"Fred or George?"  
  
"Do you think Fred or George would be doing this? No, no one from Gryffendor," Draco said amused. "I'll give you a hint. Remember today's potions lesson? What happened?"  
  
"Well, we were to make a truth potion, and then try it. Had an indigo colored aura, that's the glow, and it can change, and Malfoy." she trailed off. "MALFOY?!?"  
  
"My, my, don't we sound surprised."  
  
"Get out!" she said rather angrily.  
  
Normally Draco would have not cared, but, for some reason, this time was different.  
  
"Wait," he said, "I."  
  
"You what?"  
  
"I love you," he said quietly, not like his usual arrogant tone, but soft and meek.  
  
She laughed, which made him feel worse.  
  
"I'm not kidding."  
  
"I don't believe you," she said. "Why should I?"  
  
"I don't even believe myself," Draco said surprised. "But I realized it sitting here watching you. You're so beautiful when you're asleep."  
  
"If you think I'm going to believe that, you must be thicker than what people take you."  
  
"But you."  
  
"No, I don't," Hermione said. "Not in your lifetime."  
  
Draco looked at her, then said, "Whatever," more hurt than what he was letting on.  
  
Hermione knew she had hurt him badly. "Draco, wait."  
  
"NO, you've made your point clear. I'm going now," and he walked silently out the door.  
  
After he left her dorm, he sat in one armchair and he felt water sliding down his face, knowing that tears ran freely down his face.  
  
Well, he thought, best be going, and he left to go to the Slytherin dorms.  
  
The next day, Draco stayed away from Hermione and mainly hung with Pansey, constantly telling her how much he loved her, although he was mainly trying to convince himself of that, by the really didn't feel that way towards her anymore.  
  
During lunch he went to sit by Pansey, when he heard someone call his name.  
  
He kept on going.  
  
"Draco."  
  
He wasn't going to listen.  
  
"Malfoy, listen to me."  
  
"What do you want Granger?" he asked impatiently.  
  
"Talk."  
  
"You made your point clear last night."  
  
"I saw what I did."  
  
"You broke my heart," Draco said angrily. "Now why don't you go over to Pothead and snuggle up, okay?", and he turned away from her. When he sat down, he looked over to her. She looked as if she had been hit, and a cloudy mist could be seen in her chocolate eyes.  
  
Damn it, he thought to himself. I blew that one.  
  
"Are you okay?" Pansey said sympathetically.  
  
"Yeah, hone, don't worry about me. Your love will make me better."  
  
At least I hope so, he thought.  
  
Later that day at potions, Snape told the assigned potion partners their assignments.  
  
And I'm trying to avoid her, Draco silently and sarcastically said to himself. Thanks Professor.  
  
On his way to Hermione's desk, Potter pushed into him and hissed, "Hurt her one more time, and I'll make it so you wish you'd never been born."  
  
"Ooh, scary," Draco said sarcastically. "Oh, help! Potter's gonna' get me. Call the paper, Potter falling for the Mudblood."  
  
Well, Draco thought as he watched Potter walk rather huffily to his assigned partner, Millicent Bulstrode. At least I shut him up.  
  
"All right, class, today, we'll make a love potion. No, Mr. Weasley, not that sort of love potion. This potion will amplify the feelings towards someone you love, so if you love books, then it will show more than usual. Same goes for if you love someone.  
  
"What you need is," Prof. Snape continued, "is a few dragon's heartstrings, several strawberries, for flavor, one phoenix feather, three eels' eyes, and a bit of bat blood. And you will need a slip of parchment saying what you love. This potion will last at the most 24 hours."  
  
Draco thought a moment, and then put:  
  
Pansey Parkingson Quidditch Making fun of Potter and Weasley  
  
Hen at the bottom of the list, he put: The Mudblood, Hermione Granger.  
  
After everything was mixed, stewed, and boiled, each put their piece of paper into their cup.  
  
"Now," Snape commanded, "on my count. One, two, three, drink."  
  
Draco drank his as quickly as he could. It had smelled rather interesting, but it tasted worse.  
  
At first Draco didn't feel anything, but soon, he found himself swooning over Pansey. And from the looks of it, she was loving it.  
  
"I love you," was all that Draco could think of saying to Pansey all through supper.  
  
Then he left, and as he was turning the corner to go to his dorm, a hand shot out from nowhere, and caught his shoulder.  
  
"What," he said irritated.  
  
"Just me," a girl's voice said.  
  
"Hermione," Draco said abashed. "What ."  
  
"Shhh," she said soothingly, putting hr fingers to his lips. He loved that, her fingers felt warm and soft.  
  
So he took her hand in his, and kissed hers very cautiously.  
  
"Did you want to talk?" he asked her.  
  
"Yes," She replied. "Now, I don't know if it's the potion talking I do love you, too. I just wasn't sure when you told me, because I wasn't sure if I loved you or Harry, but now I know that I do love you."  
  
"Do you really mean it?" Draco asked.  
  
"I'm not sure, but if you come with me, I'll tell you."  
  
"Um, sure," he said uncertainly.  
  
And so he followed her until he realized where they were going, and said, "Um, maybe I shouldn't."  
  
"What do you mean?" Hermione said.  
  
"It's the potion, not you. I'm going, sorry."  
  
"That's okay," she said.  
  
Yeah, he thought, right.  
  
And he turned around to walk the lonely corridors once more. And once he reached the trap door to the Slytherin common room, he knew what he had to do.  
  
"Pansey, can I talk to you?" he asked.  
  
"Okay," Pansey said. She looked concerned.  
  
"Um, I love you and all."  
  
"But." she said.  
  
".but I need.maybe we.I think."  
  
"You want to break up."  
  
"Sort of," he said, and then hastily added, "But it's not you; you've been great, it's just that."  
  
"Whatever," she said, and Draco knew that he had hurt her bad.  
  
"I'm sorry, it's just, I changed."  
  
"Yeah, Draco, you changed. You changed a lot." She looked at him with hatred burning in her topaz eyes.  
  
"Pansey."  
  
"Just shut the hell up, you son of the damned; bastard."  
  
Now it was Draco's turn to be hurt. Normally that wouldn't have affected him, but this time was different. It hurt badly, but the tears were concealed inside.  
  
He just left for his bed, so he could sleep the pain away. Sleep, he thought then gave a bitter laugh. My only sanctuary in this whole world. He let the darkness consume hi in a blanket of forgiveness.  
  
The next day in potions class, Snape gave only these instructions, "Test tomorrow, same partners, no extra talking, get to work."  
  
Damn it, Draco thought, I wonder if she remembers yesterday.  
  
"Hi," Draco said causally.  
  
"Hi," she returned.  
  
"Yesterday was strange."  
  
"Yeah, I know."  
  
"So, do you really feel that way towards me?" he asked hopefully.  
  
"No," she said  
  
"No?" Draco asked.  
  
"Not here."  
  
"When?"  
  
"Before supper, Harry and Ron are always there before I am. I think you know the password."  
  
"Yeah, um. What's the formula to a wiggle potion?" Draco quizzed as he noticed Prof. Snape coming their way.  
  
"Oh, um, Flobberworm mucus, and muggle gelatin." When Draco looked back at Prof. Snape, he saw that the professor was turned around, apparently pleased with their so called progress.  
  
Before supper, Draco went to the Gryffendor portrait hole and gave the password. The portrait looked uncertain, but she soon let him in.  
  
Draco knew his way around so he went up to the girls' dorms, so as to speak with Hermione.  
  
"Hi," he said.  
  
"Hi, come here."  
  
"Okay."  
  
"Two nights ago," she said, "Did you really mean it?"  
  
"Of course I meant it. I didn't believe myself when I first said it, but since I had time to think about it, I know that it's the truth, and I can't change it. I'm not joking; I couldn't joke about something as serious as me falling for you."  
  
"Good," she said, seemingly satisfied. "And I really do love you too."  
  
Then, before he knew what he was doing, he kissed her. Not just a harmless peck, a full on PG lip lock. He expected her to fight or push away, but she just kissed him harder than he started with. And this kiss wasn't hard and rough as it had been with Pansey; it was passionate and everything he expected his first kiss to be.  
  
Then a knock on the door caused them to break. "Hermione, are you still in there?" They knew Potter was there.  
  
"Hide," Hermione said, so Draco slid under her bed.  
  
"Can I come in?" Potter asked.  
  
"Sure, Harry," she replied.  
  
"What's taking you so long?" Harry asked impatiently.  
  
"Not much," she replied, "just writing."  
  
"Okay." Potter said, "I just . well, I do care for you."  
  
"I know."  
  
"And I don't want to see you hurt."  
  
"Yes, Harry."  
  
"All I want is for you to be happy."  
  
Then he gave her a small kiss on the cheek.  
  
"C'mon," Harry said, "Ron's waiting for us."  
  
"I'm coming," she said. "Just go on without me, I'll be right there, I just have to finish up here."  
  
"All right." Then Draco heard the door shut silently.  
  
"Draco," Hermione said after a while, "You can come out now."  
  
"Um, Hermione."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I just wanted you to know that...whatever I might have said or done to offend you was merely me showing off to the other Slytherins, and I wish to take it all back, but I know that's not possible, but I do apologize for anything more."  
  
"More?" Hermione asked in curiosity.  
  
"Well, you can't expect me to let the whole school know that our infamous rivalry has come to an end? There would be some very unpleasant talk."  
  
"I guess," she said, "You're right, and I don't want to end my friendship between Ron and Harry because of the stupidity of their predjudicy."  
  
"You see?" Draco asked. "But that doesn't mean that we can't keep this quiet, does it?  
  
"No," Hermione replied, "I guess not. C'mon before someone sees you."  
  
"All right", and the two of them set off towards the Great Hall. 


End file.
